Thoughts About My 60-Day Visa

When you’re starting a business on the road you need to spend a good deal of time working. Even as you “travel”, it’s often much easier to stay in one location to get large chunks of work done.

For the past 3 months I’ve been living in Chiang Mai. I’ve been able to get a good deal of work done largely due to the fact that I’m NOT traveling. I’ve built a repetitive schedule that allows me to plan big chunks of ‘work time’ in every day.

Then… a wrench is thrown into the machine. My visa is about to expire.

Being forced to leave seems negative. Wouldn’t it be nice if I wasn’t forced to go? It would be so much easier if I could leave when I wanted.

….. Not so fast.

Yes, my visa expiration is a tad annoying, BUT it keeps me from  the single worst phenomenon life has ever thrown at a digital nomad, or anyone else for that matter….

Stagnation.

Stagnation occurs when days cease to become unique experiences. It occurs when weeks cease to be their own mini-adventures and months bleed together to become an indivisible ‘period of your life’.

Just like the parents who finally kick their unemployed 30 year old son off of the couch, my 60 day visa says “Get up and do something! You can’t stay here any more just doing what’s comfortable.”

Even though being forced to leave is less than ideal, it’s the decision I should be making on my own.

There’s So Much To See

I became a nomad because I wanted to travel. Funny, it’s taking a visa expiration to get me to hit the road.

When you’re in one place for too long, you can sometimes forget that moving on to the next destination was the goal in the first place.

As you grow a business, thoughts about revenue, employees, and customers can come to dominate your mind. It’s easy to forget that your goal was to travel and that the business was only supposed to be the vehicle to help you achieve that goal.

Being forced to hit the road helps jog your memory.

Stagnation sucks!

My 60 day visa helps me remember this.